CLOTELLE: A TALE OF THE SOUTHERN STATES
by
William Wells Brown
CONTENTS
I THE SLAVE'S SOCIAL CIRCLE.
II THE NEGRO SALE.
III THE SLAVE SPECULATOR.
IV THE BOAT-RACE.
V THE YOUNG MOTHER.
VI THE SLAVE-MARKET.
VII THE SLAVE-HOLDING PARSON.
VIII A NIGHT IN THE PARSON'S KITCHEN.
IX THE MAN OF HONOR.
X THE QUADROON'S HOME
XI TO-DAY A MISTRESS, TO-MORROW A SLAVE
XII THE MOTHER-IN-LAW.
XIII A HARD-HEARTED WOMAN.
XIV THE PRISON.
XV THE ARREST.
XVI DEATH IS FREEDOM.
XVII CLOTELLE.
XVIII A SLAVE-HUNTING PARSON.
XIX THE TRUE HEROINE.
XX THE HERO OF MANY ADVENTURES.
XXI SELF-SACRIFICE.
XXII LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT AND WHAT FOLLOWED.
XXIII MEETING OF THE COUSINS.
XXIV THE LAW AND ITS VICTIM.
XXV THE FLIGHT.
XXVI THE HERO OF A NIGHT.
XXVII TRUE FREEDOM.
XXVIII FAREWELL TO AMERICA.
XXIX A STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.
XXX NEW FRIENDS.
XXXI THE MYSTERIOUS MEETING.
XXXII THE HAPPY MEETING.
XXXIII THE HAPPY DAY.
XXXIV CLOTELLE MEETS HER FATHER.
XXXV THE FATHER'S RESOLVE.
CHAPTER I
THE SLAVE'S SOCIAL CIRCLE.
With the growing population in the Southern States, the increase of
mulattoes has been very great. Society does not frown upon the man who
sits with his half-white child upon his knee whilst the mother stands,
a slave, behind his chair. In nearly all the cities and towns of the
Slave States, the real negro, or clear black, does not amount to more
than one in four of the slave population. This fact is of itself the
best evidence of the degraded and immoral condition of the relation of
master and slave. Throughout the Southern States, there is a class of
slaves who, in most of the towns, are permitted to hire their time from
their owners, and who are always expected to pay a high price. This
class is the mulatto women, distinguished for their fascinating beauty.
The handsomest of these usually pay the greatest amount for their time.
Many of these women are the favorites of men of property and standing,
who furnish them with the means of compensating their owners, and not a
few are dressed in the most extravagant manner.
When we take into consideration the fact that no safeguard is thrown
around virtue, and no inducement held out to slave-women to be pure and
chaste, we will not be surprised when told that immorality and vice
pervade the cities and towns of the South to an extent unknown in the
Northern States. Indeed, many of the slave-women have no higher
aspiration than that of becoming the finely-dressed mistress of some
white man. At negro balls and parties, this class of women usually make
the most splendid appearance, and are eagerly sought after in the
dance, or to entertain in the drawing-room or at the table.
A few years ago, among the many slave-women in Richmond, Virginia, who
hired their time of their masters, was Agnes, a mulatto owned by John
Graves, Esq., and who might be heard boasting that she was the
daughter of an American Senator. Although nearly forty years of age at
the time of which we write, Agnes was still exceedingly handsome. More
than half white, with long black hair and deep blue eyes, no one felt
like disputing with her when she urged her claim to her relationship
with the Anglo-Saxon.
In her younger days, Agnes had been a housekeeper for a young
slaveholder, and in sustaining this relation had become the mother of
two daughters. After being cast aside by this young man, the
slave-woman betook herself to the business of a laundress, and was
considered to be the most tasteful woman in Richmond at her vocation.
Isabella and Marion, the two daughters of Agnes, resided with their
mother, and gave her what aid they could in her business. The mother,
however, was very choice of her daughters, and would allow them to
perform no labor that would militate against their lady-like
appearance. Agnes early resolved to bring up her daughters as ladies,
as she termed it.
As the girls grew older, the mother had to pay a stipulated price for
them per month. Her notoriety as a laundress of the first class enabled
her to put an extra charge upon the linen that passed through her
hands; and although she imposed little or no work upon her daughters,
she was enabled to live in comparative luxury and have her daughters
dressed to attract attention, especially at the negro balls and parties.
Although the term "negro ball" is applied to these gatherings, yet a
large portion of the men who attend them are whites. Negro balls and
parties in the Southern States, especially in the cities and towns, are
usually made up of quadroon women, a few negro men, and any number of
white gentlemen. These are gatherings of the most democratic character.
Bankers, merchants, lawyers, doctors, and their clerks and students,
all take part in these social assemblies upon terms of perfect
equality. The father and son not unfrequently meet and dance alike at a
negro ball.
It was at one of these parties that Henry Linwood, the son of a wealthy
and retired gentleman of Richmond, was first introduced to Isabella,
the oldest daughter of Agnes. The young man had just returned from
Harvard College, where he had spent the previous five years. Isabella
was in her eighteenth year, and was admitted by all who knew her to be
the handsomest girl, colored or white, in the city. On this occasion,
she was attired in a sky-blue silk dress, with deep black lace
flounces, and bertha of the same. On her well-moulded arms she wore
massive gold bracelets, while her rich black hair was arranged at the
back in broad basket plaits, ornamented with pearls, and the front in
the French style (a la Imperatrice), which suited her classic face to
perfection.
Marion was scarcely less richly dressed than her sister.
Henry Linwood paid great attention to Isabella which was looked upon
with gratification by her mother, and became a matter of general
conversation with all present. Of course, the young man escorted the
beautiful quadroon home that evening, and became the favorite visitor
at the house of Agnes. It was on a beautiful moonlight night in the
month of August when all who reside in tropical climates are eagerly
grasping for a breath of fresh air, that Henry Linwood was in the
garden which surrounded Agnes' cottage, with the young quadroon by his
side. He drew from his pocket a newspaper wet from the press, and read
the following advertisement:--
NOTICE.--Seventy-nine negroes will be offered for sale on Monday,
September 10, at 12 o'clock, being the entire stock of the late John
Graves in an excellent condition, and all warranted against the common
vices. Among them are several mechanics, able-bodied field-hands,
plough-boys, and women with children, some of them very prolific,
affording a rare opportunity for any one who wishes to raise a strong
and healthy lot of servants for their own use. Also several mulatto
girls of rare personal qualities,--two of these very superior.
Among the above slaves advertised for sale were Agnes and her two
daughters. Ere young Linwood left the quadroon that evening, he
promised her that he would become her purchaser, and make her free and
her own mistress.
Mr. Graves had long been considered not only an excellent and upright
citizen of the first standing among the whites, but even the slaves
regarded him as one of the kindest of masters. Having inherited his
slaves with the rest of his property, he became possessed of them
without any consultation or wish of his own. He would neither buy nor
sell slaves, and was exceedingly careful, in letting them out, that
they did not find oppressive and tyrannical masters. No slave
speculator ever dared to cross the threshold of this planter of the Old
Dominion. He was a constant attendant upon religious worship, and was
noted for his general benevolence. The American Bible Society, the
American Tract Society, and the cause of Foreign Missions, found in him
a liberal friend. He was always anxious that his slaves should appear
well on the Sabbath, and have an opportunity of hearing the word of God.